There are a lot of submarine movies, and there are a lot of horror movies.
In their zeal to find something new, horror movie makers typically look
to expand into different genres, and it was only a matter of time before
the two came together. There is one very important name lurking in the
writing credits of Below; Darren Aronofsky. Aronofsky is the visionary
auteur behind movies like Pi and Requiem
for a Dream. He shares writing credit with Lucas Sussman and director
David Twohy (Pitch Black, The
Arrival), and the fact that he is missing as a director shows. It
would have been great watching how Aronofsky would use his unique way
of making movies to approach Below, instead, Twohy gives the film a much
more straightforward approach.

What Below has in its favor is the claustrophobic environs of
a submarine. Combining the fear that can happen when one's imagination
runs wild at the bottom of the ocean is a novel idea, but here is becomes
a tad mundane. Below takes place on a damaged World War II submarine
close to the English shore, but heading home to America. The War is going
on above them, so tensions are high. They pick up Claire (Olivia Williams,
The Man From Elysian Fields,
The Body), an English nurse and some of
her patients from a sinking ship. She is the only woman on board so this
instantly causes problems. Of course, odd things begin happening. Crewman
hear noises and think they see things, and nobody can explain them.

Below includes a roster full of B tier actors. This doesn't mean that
they are bad, it just means that they are usually found in supporting
roles. Nobody really does anything to distinguish himself here, meriting
a bump up to a higher pay scale and recognition factor. Lt. Brice (Bruce
Greenwood, Swept Away, Thirteen
Days) is in charge of the ship and apparently hiding something.
O'Dell (Matthew Davis, Legally Blonde,
Blue Crush) is a newer member. He
suspects something is wrong and feels left out. Loomis (Holt McCallany,
Men of Honor, Three
Kings) obviously dislikes O'Dell, and seems to be hiding something
too. Coors (Scott Foley, Scream 3, Rennie's
Landing) has a beard and is still pining for Felicity. There are some
other members of the crew, who in grand horror fashion slowly die off,
one by one.

Below has promise which is squanders, but at least it doesn't
stoop to constant gore to take the place of genuine fear. The submarine
setting does allow for all of the crew to be trapped in an enclosed environment,
where anything that bumps against the hull is liable to cause loud noises.
Everybody is tired and distracted, so it is hard to tell if they are truly
imagining something or not. There is basically a big secret that only
a few people know about that literally comes back to haunt everybody.
There are the expected moments that jolt the audience, but this is no
different than any other movie. The horror angle is what ultimately dooms
the film. As the movie nears its end, Below seems like most other
movies out there.